Fifty One Mila

The airport was crowded. The sinking feeling I had in my stomach hadn't left yet. It had only just gotten worse. And now my chest was tight. Lira was still happy about me coming back with her. I felt like I shouldn't have left. I looked down at my phone and saw that I didn't have service still. I turned to Lira.

"Is your phone working yet?"

"No not yet."

"I need to find a phone to use. I'll be back."

"Mila, you can call when we get home. They might call us to board soon."

I looked at her and shook my head. We had been waiting for almost two hours. I opened my mouth to say something when a voice came over the speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for choosing to fly with Delta airlines. At this time, we will begin boarding for flight 4732 nonstop from Seattle to Arizona. Please have your boarding passes ready. All passengers in zones one, two, and three please come to the front."

"Let's go Mila," Lira said. We stood and slowly walked up towards the counter. The clerk smiled wide as she took the tickets out of Lira's hands. She held her arm to the side as we walked past her. Each step down towards the plane felt heavy for me. This was a mistake. I stopped walking suddenly, the person behind me bumped into me hard. I fell down to my knees. Lira heard, stopped and turned around.

"Mila, are you alright?" she asked me kneeling down next to me. My chest was tight and I started to hyperventilate. I shook my head no.

"I can't leave Lira. I have to stay here."

"Mila really get up. You are going to be fine. All of this isn't necessary."

I shook my head as my heart started to beat faster. My breaths were getting shorter. I shook my head no. This had to be the imprint. I felt like I was going to die. I shook my head no again. "Lira I can't leave."

"Is everything alright?" a flight attendant asked. I shook my head no. Lira stood up and faced him. I couldn't hear what she was saying. The only thing that I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears. I looked up just as he turned away from us. He came back a few minutes later, with a bottle of water. Lira thanked him and took the bottle from him. She opened it before kneeling back next to me.

"Drink this Mila. You just need to calm down," she said putting the bottle up to my lips. The water eased down my throat but I wasn't feeling any better.

"Ma'am I'm sorry but we need to continue boarding."

"Of course, she's just nervous about flying that's all. Come on Mila," Lira said as she slowly pulled me to my feet. My heart was still pounding as we slowly walked towards the plane. When we stepped on, I felt like all eyes were on us. We made our way down the aisle and to our seats. I eased down and turned towards the window. Lira sat next to me and held out the bottle of water. I took it from her and drunk more of the water. My heart was still pounding, this was a mistake.

"Here take this," Lira said to me. I turned and saw she was holding two small blue pills in her hand. I looked at the pills then back up at her. "It's just some nighttime Tylenol. Here is the bottle," she held up a small white bottle "You look like I'm about to kill you or something. Take these and we will be home before you know it."

Before I could object, she dropped them in my water bottle and put it up to my mouth. I knew I shouldn't have but I was tired. I drunk the water and the pills, and then settled in for the flight.

My eyes fluttered open, slowly. I looked around the room and panic set in. The room was small, almost like the size of a shoe box. The walls were bare and painted a hideous shade of green. I sat up in the bed and looked from side to side. I slowly put my feet on the ground, and paused before slowly standing up. I took one step to make sure I wouldn't pass out or anything. After the second step, I figured out I wasn't going to pass out.

I slowly walked towards the door and pulled it open. I looked to the left and the right. There were two other closed doors to the left. One door was to the right. I walked over to it and discovered it was another bedroom. The room was empty. I continued towards the stair case and made my way downstairs. When I the bottom, I looked around the room. The living room was junky as was the dining room. The curtains were drawn shut.

I ran towards the front door and tried to open it. The door was locked and there were three locks on it. Two of them you needed a key to open from the inside. I turned and ran towards the back of the house. The back door was locked. My heart started to pound as I looked around for a phone.

"Oh you're awake," Lira said. I screamed as I turned around and found her standing there.

"Yea I'm awake."

"You were so tired from the flight. I didn't want to wake you up when we landed. I used a wheelchair to get you off the plane."

"Oh ok."

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. I'm almost done cooking."

"Dinner? What time is it?"

"It's almost five. Go wash up and put on the outfit that I hung up in your closet."

I slowly walked past her and back up to the room. When I reached it, I shut the door and went over to the bed. I pulled the covers back and threw the pillows off my bed. Where was my phone? I had it on me when I was waiting to board. I looked around the room and saw my suitcase sitting in the corner. I went over to it and put it on the bed. I quickly opened it and started looking for my phone. It wasn't there!

"Mila you need to get dressed and down here right now. Hal will be home in five minutes and we need to be at the table," Lira said from the doorway. I turned and saw her looking at me.

"Lira, where is my phone?"

"Get dressed Mila. If you aren't at the table, Hal is going to be upset. And you don't want to see Hal upset."

"Where is my phone Lira?"

Lira pushed past me and went over to the closet. She pulled out a dress that was hanging up and held it out to me. "Put the dress on Mila."

I pushed the dress away from me. "Give me my phone Lira!" I yelled at her. Lira stepped towards me and tried to grab my arm. I pulled back and pushed her away from me. She tried to grab me again, telling me to put on the dress. I yelled at her to give me my phone when a door slammed downstairs. Lira instantly stopped fighting with me and looked towards the door. The steps were heavy and deliberate. Lira started to breath deeper and faster, her eyes got wide before she dropped the dress and kneeled on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked her "Get up and give me my-"

"You aren't at the table," a deep voice said from behind me. I turned towards the door and saw a man standing there. His face was void of emotion. He was taller than Lira and weighed more. His bald head had a thin sheen of sweat on it; he was thick but not fat. His overalls were covered in dirt and his boots looked like they had mud caked on them. "You aren't at the table," he repeated again. "Speak!" he yelled.

"Mila wouldn't get dressed sir. I was trying to get her dressed for dinner," Lira said. Her face was still towards the ground. He walked into the room and stared at Lira. Before I knew what was happening, he slapped me across the face. It was hard and unexpected so I fell down to the ground. As I was trying to get up another slap came down on me. I yelled out in pain as my ear started to ring.

"You are to be dressed at down at the table at five every day. And you," he turned to Lira "You know the rules. You better explain them to her." He slapped her before walking out of the room. Lira jumped up and grabbed the dress off the ground.

"Put this on and come down stairs before we both are in more trouble," she said before quickly walking out the room. I had no idea what Lira had just put me in but I knew this was nothing but trouble.

"Embry please find me," I whispered.